Zhang Fakui | |
|---|---|
張發奎 | |
 Zhang Fakui on the cover ofThe Young Companion, June 1938 | |
| 3rd Commander-in-Chief of theRepublic of China Army | |
| In office 9 February 1949 – 26 June 1949 | |
| President | Li Zongren |
| Preceded by | Yu Hanmou |
| Succeeded by | Gu Zhutong |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1896-09-02)2 September 1896 Shixing County,Guangdong,Qing Empire |
| Died | 10 March 1980(1980-03-10) (aged 83) British Hong Kong |
| Awards | Order of Blue Sky and White Sun,Order of the British Empire |
| Nickname | Hero of the Iron Army |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Republic of China |
| Years of service | 1912–1949 |
| Rank |  General |
| Unit | 4th corps |
| Commands | 4th corps, Commander in Chief 8th Army Group, Commander in Chief 4th War Area |
| Battles/wars | Northern Expedition,Nanchang Uprising,Guangzhou Uprising,Central Plains War, Anti-CommunistEncirclement Campaigns,Second Sino-Japanese War,Chinese Civil War |
| Zhang Fakui | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 張發奎 | ||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 张发奎 | ||||||||||||||
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Zhang Fakui CBE (2 September 1896 – 10 March 1980) was aChineseNationalist general who fought againstnorthern warlords, theImperial Japanese Army andChinese Communist forces in his military career. He served as commander-in-chief of the 8th Army Group and commander-in-chief ofNRA ground force before retiring inHong Kong in 1949.
Zhang Fakui was born in 1896 inShixing County,Guangdong province. He entered a private learning facility at a young age and went toGuangzhou to become an apprentice before joining the local militia. He entered elementary military academy in Guangdong in 1912 and then went toWuhan's military high school. He served asSun Yat-Sen's personal bodyguard and was appointed as a battalion commander of the newly created 4th Corps of theNational Revolutionary Army. In 1923 he joined the campaign (East Expedition of National Revolution Army) to dislodge anti-sun Guangdong clique warlordChen Jiongming from power and was promoted to regiment, brigade and then division commander. During theNorthern Expedition he led the 4th Corps and defeatedWu Peifu's warlord armies in central China. The 4th Corps became known as the Iron Army. Zhang was lauded by the public as the "Hero of the Iron Army". WhenChiang Kai-shek unleashed his forces against the communists in theShanghai Massacre on April 12, 1927, Zhang stayed withWang Jingwei's Wuhan government. He was appointed to command both 4th and 11th Corps. In the same month both KMT governments launched separate campaigns against the northern warlords, and Zhang again scored a major victory against MarshalZhang Zuolin'sFengtian clique inHenan province. He was then promoted to commander-in-chief of the 4th Area Army and prepared to attack Nanjing. WhenWang Jingwei andChiang Kai-shek reconciled in July 1927, many communist officers under his command mutinied, resulting in theNanchang Uprising. Zhang's army defeated the communists and chased the mutineers across intoFujian, then he returned to his home province. While in Guangdong, he drove out theNew Guangxi clique and again supportedWang Jingwei overChiang Kai-shek. The remaining communists in his army used the confusion to launch theGuangzhou Uprising, which Zhang immediately quelled with three divisions. However, he was blamed for the fiasco and resigned his command. Before the outbreak of theSecond Sino-Japanese War, he participated in a series of local conflicts in order to stop the growing influence ofChiang Kai-shek'sNationalist Government in his province and was an active member during theCentral Plains War against the Nanjing government. In 1936 he and Chiang reconciled and he was appointed commander-in-chief ofZhejiang,Jiangxi,Anhui andFujian border regions, to eradicate communist activities in those places.
During theSecond Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Fakui commanded the 8th Army Group in theBattle of Shanghai in 1937, 2nd Army Corps in theBattle of Wuhan in 1938. He Commanded 4th War area from 1939 to 1944, defendingGuangdong andGuangxi against the Japanese in South China, achieving a victory in theBattle of South Guangxi. He then was appointed as commander in Chief of the Guilin War Zone during the JapaneseOperation Ichigo. As Commander in Chief 2nd Front Army he accepted the surrender of theJapanese Twenty-Third Army inGuangdong at the end of the War.
There was a unique feature for the telephone conversations withChiang Kai-shek, because Zhang was aHakka, and the two had difficulties in understanding each other: instead of simply hanging up the phone after giving out orders like he did to everyone else, during the conversation with Zhang, Chiang always asked Zhang if he understood what he had just said, and Chiang always waited until after Zhang gave an affirmative answer.
During the struggle against the Japanese, Zhang was among the first Army Corps commanders to ask the Chinese military to change its code because he discovered that Japanese could easily decode the Chinese code at the early stage of the war. After the war he was made to march into Hong Kong accept the surrender of the Japanese troops and stayed until the restoration of the British. He was awardedCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE); his medal was presented byGovernor of Hong KongSir Mark Young in May 1947. (The Straits Times, 3 May 1947)
Zhang was nicknamedZhang Fei, after the historical Three Kingdoms figure.[1]
After theSecond Sino-Japanese War, He was put in charge of Guangdong province and then named as one of PresidentChiang Kai-shek's military advisors. After the disastrousHuaihai Campaign, Vice PresidentLi Zongren took over as acting President, Zhang was named as chief military administrator ofHainan and commander-in-chief of Nationalist ground forces in March 1949. He did not retreat to Taiwan with his commanderXue Yue. He stayed in Hong Kong.
Zhang Fakui was instrumental in the Kuomintang support of Vietnamese revolutionary organizations and parties against theFrench Imperialist occupation of Indochina. He assisted theKuomintang of Vietnam (VNQDD). Based inGuangxi, Zhang established the Viet Nam Cach Menh Dong Minh Hoi meaning "Viet Nam Revolutionary League" in 1942, which was assisted by the VNQDD to serve the KMT's aims. The Chinese Yunnan provincial army, under the KMT, occupied northern Vietnam after the Japanese surrender in 1945, the VNQDD tagging alone, opposingHo Chi Minh's communist party.[2] The Viet Nam Revolutionary League was a union of various Vietnamese nationalist groups, run by the pro-Chinese VNQDD. Its stated goal was for unity with China under theThree Principles of the People, created by KMT founder Sun and opposition to Japanese and French Imperialists.[3][4] The Revolutionary League was controlled by Nguyen Hai Than. General Zhang shrewdly blocked theCommunist Party of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh from entering the league, as his main goal was Chinese influence in Indo China.[5] The KMT utilized these Vietnamese nationalists during World War II against Japanese forces.[6]
Zhang worked with Nguyen Hai Than, a VNQDD member, against French Imperialists and Communists in Indochina.[7] General Chang Fa-kuei planned to lead a Chinese army invasion ofTonkin in Indo China to Free Vietnam from French control, and to get Chiang Kai-shek's support.[8]
In June 1949, Zhang resigned and moved toBritish Hong Kong. He later became the President of the Tsung Tsin Association, the umbrella body forHakka people in Hong Kong. He had built schools back in his native village. He was the organizer of the First World Hakka Congress in Hong Kong and died there in 1980. He stayed neutral leaning neither to the Communists nearby or his previous Nationalist Government. Despite numerous pleas from both Taiwan and the mainland, he never visited either place. When he died, his old subordinate communist Hakka leaderYe Jianying, by now a Marshal in the PLA, and contemporary Taiwan's leaderChiang Ching-kuo sent their condolence letters to express their sorrow.
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